Social media is a must-do for today’s small businesses. However, it can be hard knowing whether your social media has an impact. What does a ‘like’ on a post even mean? You don’t need likes, you need social media to help you find new customers. With this in mind, we’ve worked with our friends at American Express to curate our best tips on how you might be able to get new customers using social media.
1. Use relevant hashtags
One of the most powerful ways to find a new audience on social media is by using hashtags. On Instagram and Twitter, people regularly search hashtags to find content relevant to their interest. When you post, make sure to include a few hashtags in order to reach new audiences.
To find a great hashtag, a good guideline is to use a hashtag that doesn’t have more than 500,000 associated posts. Using this rule, you avoid having your post drowned out in a sea of other posts. Using appropriate hashtags can help ensure your own post is visible to more new customers.
One perk of using Ripl for your social media content: we automatically suggest a few hashtags for you!
2. Partner with Your Neighbor
Another way to try and gain new customers via social media is through partnering with your local community. Whether it’s partnering with another neighborhood business, charity, or figure in your community- network with them and see if you two can collaborate on creating a social media post together.
How will you two benefit? By partnering on social media, you can reach two audiences at the same time. Since your partner’s audience already trusts them, (and thereby trusts their association with you), they might be more likely to become a new customer of yours.
3. Provide outstanding customer support on social media
For prospective customers, a critical aspect of social media is in the way you provide customer support. People want to know that a business that they consider purchasing from has good customer service. It’s important in today’s business environment since so many small businesses compete with Amazon, which is known in part for their customer support.
We would suggest turning on your social media notifications so you’re aware anytime a customer messages your social media page. Studies show that 42 percent of customers expect a response within an hour, so responding in a timely manner is critical.
4. Optimize Your Social Media Links
Here is a simple tip that’s often overlooked: make sure that all of your social media channels include a link to your website. This is important for every small business. Add a link to your website to your profile pages, about pages, to the top of your profile, and more.
Another place you can optimize your social media links is through Ripl. With the videos you create through Ripl, our iOS app allows you to create an ending slide where you can include your website and other business information.
5. Create eye-catching graphics
Using appealing content in your social media is a great way to try and get noticed by new customers. Since most people use social media now, there’s a lot of competition in attracting customer attention. By creating eye-catching posts, especially if these posts include video, you have a better chance of grabbing the attention of new customers.
Not sure how to create eye-catching pictures or videos? Try Ripl today, we make producing compelling posts easy.
6. Create taggable content
A fun way to find new customers is by creating taggable content. Encourage your audience to tag a friend! Of course, whether your audience actually follows through with tagging people depends on how engaging your content is. Good humor tends to get people to share, but you can also rely on interesting captions.
Besides tagging other people, there’s other ways to create taggable posts. For example, we’d recommend always tagging your business location in posts. By tagging location, potential customers from around your local area can find your business!
When it comes to tags, you can tag social media posts AND stories. So don’t be afraid to use tags in both!
7. Create shoppable content
Depending on your social media platform of choice, you can help attract new customers by making it super easy to purchase your products. Platforms like Pinterest and Instagram have “shoppable” posts that allow customers to buy a product without ever leaving the social media platform. If you happen to sell retail products, this is a great option for you.
8. Offer a deal on one of your products
This is a bit of a no-brainer, but a good deal is a great way to try and attract new customers. Around this time of year, customers are usually looking for deals. Use this to your advantage and announce a promotion for one of your products. Make sure to market this promotion on social media, so your potential customers can take advantage of it!
9. Encourage your customers
As a small business owner on social media, you want to encourage customers to either find out more information or purchase your products.
For your social media posts, make sure that you think about what you’re encouraging customers to do. Don’t be afraid to encourage customers to purchase a product, call your store for more info, or to stop by your shop! If you aren’t leading customers to an action, then what’s the point?
10. Encourage and Promote Reviews
Finally, you need to keep an eye on your review ratings on social media platforms. Studies show that 93 percent of customers look at reviews prior to making a purchase. If you want to try and attract new customers, you really need to encourage people to leave reviews, and to respond to any negative ones. This is especially applicable to people who sell on eCommerce platforms such as Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, where your reviews affect how you appear in the search results.
